Barghoorn Appointed Professor of Botany

Elso S. Barghoorn, who has applied modern techniques of experimental science to the study of fossil plants, has been appointed professor of Botany, Barghoorn was formerly an associate professor of Botany.

Barghoorn's studies have verified that Indian corn is a native to the New World, not to Asia as previously theorized. He has also applied paleontological research to evaluation of climatic change in North America as deduced from the record of prehistoric plant life.

During the summer of 1954, Barghoorn, with two geologist colleagues, uncovered the oldest coal deposits yet discovered. The age of the coal, pre-Cambrian, is of great geological interest as it carries back the fossil record of plant life to over a billion years.